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28 April 2016

There were several Eldorados in Berlin in the interwar period. Our major
interest is in the three opened and run by Ludwig Konjetschni. Other bars
catering to transvestites were Hannemann, opened in 1892, and later the Mikado
Bar, the Monocle Bar, Silhouette and the Bülow-Kasino. Many of the sources do
not clarify which Eldorado is meant. I have sorted them out as well as possible.

Alte Jakobstrasse 60

in the Kreuzberg district of the city (not owned
by Konjetschni). Opened in 1919.

1921 Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957) Vorticist painter/author visited Berlin. His
impressions of Eldorado appear in his 1931 pro-Nazi book, Hitler. The
first 3 chapters are devoted to a diatribe against ‘the Haupstadt of Vice’. He
derided the “Nigger dance luxury-spot[s]’, the ‘night-circuses, Negertanz
palaces, naktballeten, flagellation-bars, and sad wells of super-masculine
loneliness”. Of the transvestite bar, the Eldorado, he wrote: “[p]re-Hitler
Berlin was a sink of iniquity – the fingers of any moderately fussy patriot must
have itched to spring-clean it. Its male prostitutes alone, with their
India-rubber breasts and padded hips – the fairy hostesses of the Eldorado –
were a standing invitation to the Prussian to organise a “March on Berlin”. He
further presents Adolf Hitler as a man of peace. Lewis did change his mind about
Hitler during a visit to Berlin in 1937.

Kant-Strasse 24

in Charlottenburg. Opened 22 March 1922 by
Konjetschni. It was advertised in gay and lesbian publications as ‘Treffpunkt
der Internationalen Mondänen Welt (“Meeting Place For The International World)”,
and was for three years a huge success.

1923. US novelist, Robert McAlmon (notional
husband of Bryher)
wrote: “Several Germans declared themselves authentic hermaphrodites
[sic—transvestites], and one elderly variant loved to arrive at the smart
cabarets each time as a different type of woman: elegant, or as washerwoman, or
a street vendor, or as a modest mother of a family. He was very comical and his
presence always made for hilarity.” “At nights along the Unter den Linden it was
never possible to know whether it was a woman or a man in women’s clothing who
accosted one. That didn’t matter, but it was sad to know that innumerable young
and normal Germans were doing anything, from dope selling to every form of
prostitution, to have money for themselves and their families, their widowed
mothers and younger brothers and sisters.” McAlmon also wrote a short story,
“Miss Knight” about a US trans woman in Berlin who does lots of alcohol and
cocaine before moving back to New York.

1924, Nazi Party Reichstag Deputy Ernst Röhm moved to Berlin and
spent personal time at homosexual bars including the Eldorado. A year later, one
of his tricks attempted to blackmail him. He instantly reported him to the
police.

The film Geheimnisse einer Seele (Secrets of a Soul), 1926, was partly
filmed there. G W Pabst (dir) Hans Casparius (camera). Casparius intended to
make a second film at Eldorado, Sex Shades, and met what he took to be a
suitable transvestite. However when he asked why she was a transvestite, she
replied “Because I earn much more that way”. Casparius was repelled by her lack
of integrity, and called off the project.

Lutherstrasse 30

in the main entertainment district in Schöneberg.
Opened in 1926 by Konjetschni in the former August-Victoria-Sälle dance hall
directly opposite the famous Scala Variety Theatre. This venue was featured in
most guidebooks, and attracted celebrities. It also featured transvestite taxi
dancers – you could buy a chip to exchange for a dance.

A huge banner inside the entrance proclaims: “HIER ISTS RICHTIG! (here it is
right!)” Nearby are two oversized frescoes that show Ulysses being beckoned by
gorgeous Circes (of course, in drag) and the trial of Paris, who hesitates
between a trio of male Graces. The orchestra wear unisex silk blouses and play
French and Argentinian music. The customers amuse themselves attempting to guess
the birth gender of the dancers. The floor-show is at midnight, and plays on the
ambiguity of the gender of the performers.

Curt Moreck’s 1931 guidebook to Berlin: “It’s all staged, and only completely naive people think it’s real. Even the real transvestites who place their abnormality in the service of the business become actors here. Between the dances, in which even a normal man can enjoy the spicy pleasure of dancing with an effeminate man dressed as a woman, there are floor shows. A male “chanteuse” with a high-pitched voice sings ambiguous Parisian songs. A male star who looks like a young girl does graceful feminine pirouettes under the spotlight. He is naked except for a bras and a g-string, but even this nakedness is deceptive: it puzzles the audience and still leaves doubt as to whether it’s a man or a woman.”

1927. Painter Otto Dix visited Eldorado, and made paintings of some of the
trans women.

Magnus Hirschfeld was sometimes seen here, partly out of professional
interest.

Francis
Bacon’s father attempted to straighten him out by sending him to Berlin in
the care of a distant uncle. However the young Francis soon bedded his uncle. In
Berlin he was delighted to discover the transvestite bars such as Eldorado and
the rent-boy culture.

1928 Gustave
Binet-Valmer, a male Swiss novelist, wrote a lesbian novel, Sur Le Sable
Couchées includes scenes in Eldorado, Paris’ Club de Faubourg and the
psychoanlyical circles in Vienna.

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Announcement re year-end review

At the end of each year from 2008 to 2015 I did a year-end review of trans persons and events around the world. Each year it became bigger, and it has really become too big a task for one person. I hereby give notice that I will not be doing such a year-end review this year, or in future.

I will do some bits, especially the list of new books, but not the comprehensive survey that I have previously done.

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About Zagria

I have a social science degree. I spent several years in the 70s doing Gay Lib counselling, and moved on to organizing trans groups. I was rejected by the Clarke Institute (now CAMH) in the mid 1980s, probably because I do not match either of their stereotypes, but was accepted by Russel Reid on our first meeting in late 1987, and had surgery from James Dalrymple some months later. I have mainly worked as an IT consultant. I have been with the same husband for 44 years.